Coming in Comet A comet that may be visible to the naked eye as it passes Earth later this year may be destined to break up before we get a chance to see it up close, new research suggests. Recent observations suggest that the comet has already started to break up and could break up completely within the next few weeks or months. But some experts disagree.
Astronomers at Purple Mountain Observatory China First spotted on January 9, 2023, Comet C/2023 A3 (also known as Atlas Tschingshan) was discovered and confirmed by NASA’s Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on February 22 of the same year. Rushing towards the sunThe comet’s orbit suggests this could be the first such encounter in history. Sun And finally Solar System.
C/2023 A3 is scheduled to reach its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, on September 27 and will likely make its closest approach to Earth on October 13, when it will be about 44 million miles (71 million kilometers) from Earth. When the comet gets this close to Earth, it will be as bright as most stars in the night sky, May be visible to the naked eye For several weeks.
But a new study posted on a preprint server on July 8th arXivstudy author Zdenek Sekanina — NASA Astronomer Jet Propulsion Laboratory A researcher who has studied comets for more than 50 years argues that C/2023 A3 may meet its demise before it even reaches perihelion.
“The comet is entering an advanced stage of fragmentation, with dry, fragmented, refractory solids increasingly congregating into strangely shaped, dark, porous masses,” Sekanina wrote in the paper. These fragments will eventually “gradually disperse into space and become undetectable,” he added.
Large comets usually break up at perihelion as the Sun’s immense gravity pulls on the icy objects, which is what happened to Comet ISON, which violently tore itself apart during a solar flyby in 2014. European Space Agency.
Scientists had previously hypothesized that similar phenomena occurred with two other comets that recently passed by Earth. Flying around the sun Last September, Comet Pons-Brooks, also known as the “Devil Comet,” Survived a journey around the sun In April of this year.
But comets like C/2023 A3 can also break up as they approach the Sun, as increased solar radiation puts pressure on earlier cracks. That’s what happened with Comet C/2019 Y4, which spectacularly broke up into dozens of pieces before approaching the Sun in 2020. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In his new paper, Sekanina argues that several lines of evidence point to the “inevitable collapse” of C/2023 A3.
First, unlike many other comets, the comet isn’t brightening as it gets closer to the Sun, meaning its nucleus, or shell, may not be completely intact. Second, the comet’s dust tail is much thinner than it should be and points in an “unusual direction,” also suggesting it isn’t a unitary body. Finally, the comet appears to be experiencing “non-gravitational acceleration,” possibly caused by internal jets of gas pushing the nucleus apart.
But not everyone agrees with Sekanina’s observations.
“This doesn’t look like a comet breaking apart to me.” Nick JamesAn astronomer at the British Astronomical Society, who was not involved in the study, said: Space Weather“use [the word] “It may be unwise to assume inevitability in any comet predictions,” he added.
But James noted that the new paper is “one more good reason to observe this comet every chance you get.”
